Brachymetatarsis: Fixing a Deformed Foot

Cynthia Diaz is accustomed to keeping her feet under wraps - her toes especially.

“People would look down at my feet and be like ‘oh what’s wrong with her feet?’” says Diaz.

She was born with a foot deformity called brachymetatarsia. More common in females, it usually occurs when the fourth metatarsal bone doesn’t fully form. Resulting in a tiny toe that looks like it’s growing on top of the foot.

“It can cause the toe to look deformed where you have a toe that’s pulling up, and back- because the bone behind it is not long enough to support it,” says Dr. Andrew Belis, who is a podiatrist on medical staff of Lee Memorial Health System.

The condition can lead to balance problems and foot issues. When Cynthia started experiencing pain wearing shoes, her parents sought help.

“Then the more we investigated, the more it could cause other health problems, and that’s when we came and saw Dr. Belis,” says Cynthia’s father, Jose Diaz.

He offered a foot fix, sometimes called toe lengthening. Doctors actually break the toe bone then attach this external fixator, which pulls the bones apart, encouraging new growth.

“And basically you have two connections on either side of the bone, you cut the bone in between and you slowly stretch out the whole bone,” says Dr. Belis.

It doesn’t happen overnight, but is amazingly fast.

“Really we can get about a millimeter of bone growth per day,” says Dr. Belis.

Patients turn a screw four times a day until enough length is achieved. Most people have brachymetatarsia in both feet. Cynthia had the other one fixed.

“It’s really cool to kind of look at it sometimes and then compare feet,” says Diaz.

One down and one to go. Once the second procedure is done, Cynthia will be in good standing, for the first time in her life.

“I used to walk differently because now the weight kind of shifted on my feet so I walk forward on my feet,” says Diaz.

The procedure takes two to three months to complete.

“There’s a time of growth and then there’s a time of healing and at which point we can then take the device off,” says Dr. Belis.

No pins or plates are left behind and the foot looks perfectly normal. Her parents expect a lot of shoe shopping in the future.

“Oh definitely, whatever she wants,” says Jose.

They understand the effort it took to walk in Cynthia’s shoes.

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Lee Memorial Health System in Fort Myers, FL is the largest network of medical care facilities in Southwest Florida and is highly respected for its expertise, innovation and quality of care. For nearly a century, we’ve been providing our community with everything from primary care treatment to highly specialized care services and robotic assisted surgeries.

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